Paroled Chowchilla school bus kidnapper living in Mountain View

The Chowchilla school bus kidnapper released from prison Wednesday is living with his mother in Mountain View, the city's mayor said in a statement Friday.

Richard Schoenfeld, who along with his brother, James Schoenfeld, and friend Frederick Woods, kidnapped 26 kids and the driver, Ed Ray, from their bus and buried them alive in a van inside a Livermore rock quarry, had been in prison since 1978. All 27 victims escaped.

The 57-year-old Schoenfeld, who will wear a GPS monitor 24 hours a day, was ordered earlier this month to be released, authorities said.

"The state and the courts have determined Mr. Schoenfeld no longer poses a threat to society," Mountain View Mayor Mike Kasperzak said in a statement. "I am confident of our police department and know they will appropriately monitor him to ensure the safety of our community."

Schoenfeld's mother, Merry, declined to answer a reporter's questions when contacted at the residence Friday night. She said, "We have to go" through the closed door of her condominium. A man's voice could be heard on the other side of the door.

Acting Police Chief Mike Hamlin said in a news release that Mountain View police were in communication with parole agents for the past week in preparation for Schoenfeld's release.

"The MVPD will continue to work closely with parole in monitoring Schoenfeld to ensure the safety of our community members," Hamlin said in a statement.

Schoenfeld is a high profile parolee due to the notoriety of his crime, but he is not considered a high-risk offender by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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He'll live in a condominium complex that neighbors described as quiet. Mostly elderly residents live there.

One couple, who declined to give their names, said they were surprised to hear Schoenfeld would be living there, but weren't concerned.

"These people have to come out at some time," the husband said.

"They have to live somewhere," his wife said.

"As long as they're not causing us any problems," the man added.

The couple said they moved from an apartment complex on California Street after they learned their next door neighbor was a convicted bank robber. Compared to that, Schoenfeld was a bargain.

"If I had kids, I'd probably be a little concerned," said the husband.

Another woman admitted it made her a little nervous.

"I know it's been, what 36 years? So he's old by now. But the very act of taking a bus full of children and hiding them in a cave is cruel," said the woman, who is staying with a friend at the complex and plans to move there.

"This is the first time I've lived in close proximity to someone who's been in jail," said the former Southern California resident. "I'm nervous, but people change over time."

Richard Schoenfeld was scheduled to be paroled in November 2021, based on the open-ended nature of his life sentence. With no definitive end date, the parole board calculated the release date by taking into account all of Schoenfeld's victims, a Department of Corrections spokesman said in an email last week.

But Schoenfeld argued for an immediate release, and in March, the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in his favor. The state Supreme Court declined earlier this month to review the case, clearing the way for his release.

Richard and James Schoenfield and Wood were in their early- to mid-20s when they took over the bus carrying kids from Dairyland Union School in Chowchilla, a small farm community about 35 miles northwest of Fresno in Madera County, on July 15, 1976. They camouflaged the bus, left it in a creekbed, then drove the children and Ray to the California Rock and Gravel Quarry in Livermore, where they put them in a van buried in a cave. The kidnappers planned to ask for a $5 million ransom.

Ray and the children escaped by piling mattresses on top of each other and escaping through an opening in the van roof.

Schoenfield and his two conspirators pleaded guilty in Alameda County Superior Court in 1977. James Schoenfeld and Woods haven't been found eligible for parole. They have parole hearings scheduled for later this year.

Rick Hurd covers crime. Contact him at 925-945-4780 and follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/3rdERH.